Mud flaps for vehicles are known in the art, and generally mandatory in many jurisdictions for certain types of vehicles such as dump trucks and other heavy trucks. Mud flaps are typically suspended from a truck body above the rear truck wheels, and prevent mud, stones or other debris from being ejected from the truck wheels and striking other motor vehicles or people.
Mud flaps that are suspended freely from the truck body are prone to being torn or dislodged when the truck is traveling in loose ground in reverse by coming in contact with the rear tires. Such damage is particularly prevalent with mud flaps used for dump trucks. As a dump truck discharges its load of material, the resulting pile of dumped material forms near the rear of the vehicle, and surrounds and buries the mud flaps. The mud flaps are then prone to tearing off as the dump truck pulls away from the dumped pile of material.
If the mud flaps are damaged or dislodged, they must be repaired or more likely replaced. Missing mud flaps may also result in government fines or other penalties. In addition, damage to other vehicles and people may arise if the mud flaps are dislodged or missing and fail to prevent debris from being ejected rearwardly from the truck wheels.
Attempts to provide mud flap systems that avoid the above-noted problems have been made. Various designs for automatic mud flap lifters for moving the flaps behind the rear wheels have been developed. Some conventional designs include a pulley system with a single long cable extending underneath the truck body. The single long cable is connected at the rear of the truck to two shorter cables, which are in turn each connected to the mud flaps. The cables are guided via one or more rollers, wherein typically the cables loop around numerous rollers in a complicated configuration. When the single cable is moved forward, the shorter cables curl the mud flaps upward. Other designs include a lever-type retraction apparatus instead of a pulley system. Such designs may include a lever arm pivotably coupled to the truck bed, which is activated by a cylinder and piston.
Such conventional designs require relatively long cables or straps which extend longitudinally along the truck body. They are difficult to install given they are typically spread out over the underbody of the truck. Moreover, the long cable extending underneath the truck is exposed to the elements and therefore easily damaged. In addition, the series of rollers in many pulley-type systems are overly complicated and the cables are prone to ‘falling off’ the rollers. Further, the control systems for such designs are relatively complicated, requiring a series of cylinders, valves and lines to actuate the system. Such systems may also rely on driver control.
Therefore, there is a need for a mud flap lifter system which solves some or all of the problems associated with conventional designs.